Jenas angered by football's night of shame

Jermaine Jenas has revealed how England's black players have been left distraught after being subjected to racist abuse by Spanish supporters during last night's friendly.

He fears the ugly scenes at the Bernabeu will be ignored but has urged the football authorities to take decisive action against the Spanish Football Association.

'Monkey chants' were directed at Ashley Cole throughout the match, with the Arsenal full-back and Manchester City's Shaun Wright-Phillips bearing the brunt of the abuse.

Jenas was a late substitute but from the bench he was witness to all the barracking and, after the match, there was a sense of shock in the England camp.

"I was very surprised," Jenas told a newspaper. "It was not nice to hear such chants going on. I didn't realise the people in Spain were like that. It was very ignorant and wrong. It was disgraceful.

"That was the worst I have ever experienced. I have encountered it before when playing for Newcastle in Europe but last night was the worst. Something has to be done or else it will continue to happen. It has to stop somewhere.

"Ashley Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips were very disappointed about what happened.

"Ashley is very upset, he was not happy about the abuse he got. I just hope UEFA do not just let it slide by because it is not something that should be taken lightly.

"I hope it doesn't get brushed under the carpet. The only thing you can see happening is to ban people from games or don't let them in the stadium."

Football overshadowed

Spain won the match 1-0 with Asier del Horno's early header, and England's performance was unquestionably sub-standard, but that has been overshadowed because of the home team's supporters' behaviour.

The vitriol aimed at the likes of Cole and Wright-Phillips peaked in the second half.

And Jenas argued that the Spanish national coach Luis Aragones - who did not comment on the crowd's behaviour - was far from inexcusable.

He referred to Arsenal striker Thierry Henry as a "black s**t" last month in a training-ground conversation with Henry's Highbury team-mate Jose Reyes, and Jenas felt that Aragones should have immediately apologised to the French star.

"That doesn't help. It is pretty disgraceful that people can get away with such things," said the Newcastle midfielder.

"I am not sure if there was an apology over what he said about Thierry Henry - if not, then it is disgraceful that someone at such a high level can make such comments without any backlash."

Neville hoping for even treatment

The Football Association will be writing to UEFA, FIFA and the Spanish FA to express their concerns.

England right-back Gary Neville feels England would have been promptly punished had it been their supporters aiming abuse at Spain's players.

"I can't understand the abuse and where it comes from I don't know. But on the major issues in the game - hooliganism and racism - if it is England, we would probably be kicked out of the competitions," he argued.

"England get treated differently when it comes to certain issues in football, there is absolutely no doubt about that."

Carlton Cole played for England U21s on Tuesday night, when a smaller predominantly Spanish crowd were no less racially aggressive.

"It's unbelievable that it's still going on and even the little kids were doing it," he said.

"It was going around the whole stadium. I tried not to take it to heart and just concentrated on my game. There's not much we can do and it's up to the Spanish FA. They really have to start taking racism seriously."

Official inquiry:

The Spanish Football Federation are facing an official inquiry into the shocking racist taunts.

However, Sven-Goran Eriksson was outspoken in his criticism of the Spain fans, with the English FA demanding action be taken by UEFA and FIFA.

Indeed, the international governing bodies now face a litmus test of just how seriously they take the fight against racism.

For England were threatened with ground closure or possible expulsion from Euro 2004 if their fans continued to misbehave following problems in the qualifier against Turkey in April 2003.

That provided a wake-up call to England fans and many observers believe that, unless Spain are now hit with similarly tough action, then UEFA and FIFA will have failed in their duties.

The English FA will be detailing their concerns following last night's abuse, as well as similar taunts in the Under-21 game the previous night.

FA head of media Adrian Bevington revealed: "Sadly we have seen something that we have not seen in England for the best part of 20 years.

"We will be making a full report on this to FIFA and UEFA, and there will be a letter of complaint to the Spanish Federation.

"The shocking aspect was the disgraceful and disgusting behaviour of a large number of individuals.

Nobody can rest on their laurels

"We have occasionally unfortunately experienced this on a smaller scale in other countries. But this showed nobody can rest on their laurels in the fight against racism. Everyone has to be united against it.

"It is completely unfair for individual players to be subjected to that abuse. Quite frankly, it's a disgrace."

The England players had worn anti-racism T-shirts in their training session on the eve of the game in the wake of Aragones' allegedly racist recent comments about Thierry Henry.

England captain David Beckham revealed: "When it happens in football all around the world, you feel ashamed. It wasn't good but people are trying to cut it out."

Eriksson, meanwhile, disclosed how hard it had been for his former club side, Lazio, to tackle a racist group of fans.

"I have lived with it in the past at Lazio four years ago as unfortunately we had some fans who did the same. We tried to make it better and it wasn't easy.

"There must be some protests. When I was with Lazio, there were some protests after we played Arsenal. We lost money and our reputation, which is even worse than money.

"When things like this happen, then something must be done, but it is not up to me to tell you exactly what. That is up to the English and Spanish FAs, UEFA and FIFA."

Sports Minister Richard Caborn spoke of his outrage at the racist abuse and will write to his Spanish counterpart to demand action. Caborn has also called on FIFA and UEFA to investigate the abuse.

He said: "I was absolutely appalled by the reaction of the crowd and I will be writing to the Spanish sports minister to express my outrage at their behaviour.

"I would like to see him ask the Spanish FA to condemn the scenes we witnessed in the Bernabeu.

"I also expect FIFA and UEFA to fully investigate the issue. There is no place for racism in football or modern society, and I strongly believe that action needs to be taken at the highest level."